By Adam Collinson

During the holiday season, I frequently encounter articles offering tips for improving direct mail deliverability. While many of the suggestions are valid year-round, and some are specific to the seasonal surge, the advice related to Address Quality is usually incomplete or lacks context, and therefore frequently falls short of providing a complete picture.

A common refrain is that performing CASS (Coding Accuracy Support System) and NCOALink (National Change of Address) processing is the key to achieving a high deliverability rate. While these steps are foundational, they represent the bare minimum and often lead to misleading expectations about actual mail delivery success.

Let’s start simple with Postage Discounts vs. Actual Delivery.

First and foremost, running CASS and NCOALink is a mandatory prerequisite for qualifying for USPS postage discounts. If “deliverability rate” is interpreted as the potential or likelihood of an address being deliverable, then a high rate might be technically valid. However, if the intent is to claim a high rate of actual delivered mailpieces, that is not guaranteed solely by CASS and NCOA.

The good news is that mailers can and do achieve delivered rates that are significantly higher than the baseline. However, reaching that level requires moving beyond the basic compliance steps of CASS and NCOA.

Additionally, the majority of addresses that fail CASS (or are considered deficient) still get delivered, thanks to the carrier’s knowledge. The best example of this is new construction addresses, which fail CASS but are still deliverable until the database is updated.

There is a distinct difference between merely qualifying for postage discounts and ensuring a mailpiece is truly deliverable. Why is that?

• Timing Matters: When CASS and NCOA processing is performed can impact the accuracy of the data. Changes of Address are coming in daily.  Even with less than a month between processing and mailing, over 1% of your targeted marketing pieces will match to COA’s and be disposed of rather than delivered.
• Leverage the Data: Mailers must carefully review the additional codes and data provided by CASS and NCOA. This rich data identifies pieces with various deficiencies or characteristics that could still impact delivery, even if they qualified for a discount. Ignoring these codes means missing critical opportunities to refine the mailing list.

The Missing Piece: The Power of ACS Data

The single biggest missing piece of the address quality puzzle for ensuring consistently high delivery rates is the use of ACS (Address Change Service) data from prior mailings. ACS functions to close the loop; it identifies and confirms address issues so you don’t repeat them.

ACS provides invaluable, actionable USPS data regarding Undeliverable-As-Addressed (UAA) mail. This information should be leveraged to impact future mailings.

• Essential for Campaigns: For any multiple mailing campaign, ACS is not just beneficial—it is an absolute must.
• Cost-Effective Data: For almost all mailers, this data is available free of charge from the USPS.

Working with an experienced Mailing Service Provider (MSP) or dedicated address quality company, such as Grayhair, is critical. They can perform the core CASS and NCOALink processing, discuss how to utilize all available data, and also help set up and efficiently manage the process of obtaining and applying ACS data to future mailings.

Direct Mail Deliverability: Holiday Season Variables and Marginal Records

UAA rates increase during the Holiday season, and it is essential to recognize that delivery rates do vary. This fluctuation is especially pronounced for addresses that possess certain known deficiencies or characteristics. Even if these pieces qualify for postage discounts, they may face increased delivery challenges during periods of high mail volume, because they require local carrier knowledge and time to determine the delivery location.

Mailers are not without options for these marginal records:

• Suppress: Remove the records entirely to avoid wasted postage and resources.
• Replace: Find better, more accurate records to replace the problematic ones.
• Modify: In specific scenarios, modify the address information based on known characteristics to increase the overall probability of a successful delivery.

In summary, CASS and NCOA are essential, but they are just the start. High deliverability—the actual “got delivered” rate—is achieved by deeply understanding the difference between a discount-eligible address and a truly deliverable one, and by strategically utilizing advanced data and tools like ACS, especially when navigating the challenges of the busy Holiday mailing season.